bbboeken's review against another edition
3.0
Goed boek, onderhoudend, maar weinig vernieuwend. Een Belangrijk Boek, in die zin dat het een wijdverspreid boek is (wordt), en dat er bepaalde juiste zaken op goede manier worden aangekaart. Niet betuttelend en al. Voor Scientology wordt de lezer gewaarschuwd, fanatisme wordt afgebroken, een ruimte voor Christendom wordt opengelaten zonder het geloof erin te onderschrijven. Er spreekt een ruime, open visie uit, zonder belerend te zijn, en zonder van het thema van het boek af te wijken: een thriller, geschreven om de menschen te amuseren. Een belangrijk boek dus.
lakecake's review against another edition
2.0
Blasphemy had a really good premise, but lost a bit in the execution. The characters were really underdeveloped stereotypes and their actions were pretty predictable because of it. I wish Preston had taken this in a different direction. I had suspicions about the ending from the first twist (don't want to give anything away) but I was hoping I was wrong and the explanation would be more supernatural.
infi85's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
kblank73's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
meljon's review against another edition
4.0
An interesting story based on the "does God really exist" question. Some of the language leaned towards the technical side, but I enjoyed the story and was pleasantly surprised by the ending. I always enjoy Preston's (and his writing partner, Lincoln Child) writing.
usbsticky's review against another edition
2.0
Preston is one of my favorite authors. I wish I could like this book more but there were just too many story lines and characters to follow, some of them too cringeworthily cliched. I dnf'd because I got bored with the many side stories and just couldn't be bothered to finish it.
weaselweader's review against another edition
4.0
A superb thriller that is DEFINITELY destined for mixed reviews!
Isabella is a giant superconducting supercollider particle accelerator, the most expensive and probably the largest scale scientific experiment ever devised by man, designed to examine the state of the universe at the very moment of its creation, mere millionths of a second after the explosion of the Big Bang. Isabella is supposed to be the poster child achievement of a president in the final months of his first term in office so it's a major political concern when it consistently fails to operate as it's supposed to. Presidential science advisor, Stanton Lockwood, sends in ex-CIA agent Wyman Ford undercover as an anthropologist to root out the problem and report back. So what would one expect from the pen of the likes of best-selling author Douglas Preston - nothing less than the supercharged, high speed, dynamic, breathless thriller that he has consistently produced for his fans. Blasphemy doesn't let them down!
If one bothers to look at a novel like Blasphemy with a literary eye, an English major might suggest the over-riding them is "conflict" - the perennial dispute between science and religion (fundamentalist right wing Christians led by bible-thumping southern televangists call the scientists "secular humanists" who believe that the universe was created by accident without the guiding hand of an all-powerful God); the ongoing difficulties between North American aboriginal peoples and white politicians with the endless string of broken promises, broken treaties, land disputes and governance problems; and, of course, the endless conflict between big budget science and the exigencies of modern life's demands on politics and politicians.
I enjoyed Preston's homespun philosophy and his attempt to portray the possibility that science may ultimately BE the modern religion of choice. His suggestion that the Big Bang was not in conflict with creationism and the existence of God, that the Big Bang was only the obtuse and perhaps ultimately inscrutable method chosen for creation by a God whose motives and philosophy are beyond our ken, certainly matched my own thinking. But Preston certainly will not have created any friends among the fundamentalist Christians. His portrayal of their religion as a collection of fanatical wild-eyed zealots willing to label even Roman Catholics as idolaters destined for the endless torment of Hell because of their reverence for Mary was perhaps a trifle overbearing.
If this review can help, I'll make a suggestion. If you class yourself as a member of the fundamentalist Christian movement in North America, do yourself a favour. DO NOT READ THIS BOOK! It will only give you an ulcer.
That said, Preston has produced one heck of a thriller that doesn't fail to pull its readers from one page to the next for even the briefest second. Highly recommended.
Paul Weiss
Isabella is a giant superconducting supercollider particle accelerator, the most expensive and probably the largest scale scientific experiment ever devised by man, designed to examine the state of the universe at the very moment of its creation, mere millionths of a second after the explosion of the Big Bang. Isabella is supposed to be the poster child achievement of a president in the final months of his first term in office so it's a major political concern when it consistently fails to operate as it's supposed to. Presidential science advisor, Stanton Lockwood, sends in ex-CIA agent Wyman Ford undercover as an anthropologist to root out the problem and report back. So what would one expect from the pen of the likes of best-selling author Douglas Preston - nothing less than the supercharged, high speed, dynamic, breathless thriller that he has consistently produced for his fans. Blasphemy doesn't let them down!
If one bothers to look at a novel like Blasphemy with a literary eye, an English major might suggest the over-riding them is "conflict" - the perennial dispute between science and religion (fundamentalist right wing Christians led by bible-thumping southern televangists call the scientists "secular humanists" who believe that the universe was created by accident without the guiding hand of an all-powerful God); the ongoing difficulties between North American aboriginal peoples and white politicians with the endless string of broken promises, broken treaties, land disputes and governance problems; and, of course, the endless conflict between big budget science and the exigencies of modern life's demands on politics and politicians.
I enjoyed Preston's homespun philosophy and his attempt to portray the possibility that science may ultimately BE the modern religion of choice. His suggestion that the Big Bang was not in conflict with creationism and the existence of God, that the Big Bang was only the obtuse and perhaps ultimately inscrutable method chosen for creation by a God whose motives and philosophy are beyond our ken, certainly matched my own thinking. But Preston certainly will not have created any friends among the fundamentalist Christians. His portrayal of their religion as a collection of fanatical wild-eyed zealots willing to label even Roman Catholics as idolaters destined for the endless torment of Hell because of their reverence for Mary was perhaps a trifle overbearing.
If this review can help, I'll make a suggestion. If you class yourself as a member of the fundamentalist Christian movement in North America, do yourself a favour. DO NOT READ THIS BOOK! It will only give you an ulcer.
That said, Preston has produced one heck of a thriller that doesn't fail to pull its readers from one page to the next for even the briefest second. Highly recommended.
Paul Weiss
jessicat1212's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
mpetruce's review against another edition
3.0
Douglas Preston has been talked about as the heir to the late Michael Crichton in the thriller genre, and the talk could be right. While not quite as tightly packed as Crichton's best books, Preston nonetheless writes great page turners with all kinds of science, history, sociology, you name it, thrown in for highly entertaining reads. This is the second book to feature former CIA operative/monk now private investigator Wyman Ford (the first being Tyrannosaur Canyon). And while he goes into Ford's story a bit, it just feels like he's there simply so the reader can see what is going on; Ford himself doesn't seem to do anything that changes or moves the story all that much. This isn't necessarily bad, as the other characters are fun to watch. I suppose some Christian folks might be offended by parts of the book, but the "villains" who happen to be Christians in this book are done so over-the-top that any reasonable person, Christian or not, shouldn't be all that upset (and the folks who are really like the characters in this book aren't going to be reading this book at all anyway). But if it makes you feel any better, the non-Christians have plenty of wackiness written into them, too.